>> LEADING THE DAY: Apple CarPlay debuts with Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, by Stuart Dredge: "Apple has rebranded its iOS in the Car initiative as CarPlay, and unveiled Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo as the first partners to build it into their vehicles... The rebranding was announced this morning at the Geneva International Motor Show, making it clear that CarPlay is the in-car equivalent to Apple's AirPlay technology in the living room. Apple's Siri virtual assistant technology is key to the initiative, acting as the interface for drivers to access their contacts, make calls and listen to voicemails, while also reading out messages and responding to voice commands. Apple's Maps service will be a key feature in CarPlay too, with routes shown on the car's own screen, and spoken turn-by-turn directions. Digital music is also part of CarPlay, but it is not an iTunes-only affair, with Spotify and US service iHeartRadio among the third-party apps that will work with it." The Guardian

> Ellen was on stage at Oscars with Samsung, backstage with iPhone Marketing Land>> SHUFFLING THE DECK: Top execs Bates and Reller to depart, as musical chairs begins at Microsoft, by Kara Swisher: "Two direct reports to new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella -- EVP of business development and evangelism Tony Bates and EVP of marketing Tami Reller -- are leaving the company, according to numerous sources close to the situation... Nadella told top staff of the changes on Friday and the software giant was planning to announce them Tuesday. EVP of advanced strategy Eric Rudder will temporarily take up Bates' duties and longtime Microsoft marketing exec Chris Capossela will replace Reller... Capossela will also get all of advertising too, in a major shift in the duties of EVP of advertising and strategy Mark Penn to just EVP of strategy." Re/code

> Tami Reller and Tony Bates are out at Microsoft -- stay tuned for more departures InfoWorld

> Microsoft culture must change, chairman says Fortune>> REVOLT: Users refuse to chuck XP as Windows 8 uptake flattens, by Gregg Keizer: "According to Net Applications, Windows XP increased its share by three-tenths of a percentage point in February, ending the month at 29.5% of all desktop and notebook computers worldwide. The month before, XP had gained a quarter of a point. The aged operating system accounted for nearly a third -- 32.5% -- of all Windows-powered PCs. The second consecutive month of Windows XP increases in 'user share,' a rough measurement of what fraction of the world's computer owners run a specific operating system, was another setback for Microsoft, which has told customers to get off XP before it's retired from security support on April 8." Computerworld

> Mark Russinovich: How Microsoft is building its cloud future InfoWorld

> This is Cortana, Microsoft's answer to SiriThe Verge>> COOK BOOK: The job after Steve Jobs: Tim Cook and Apple, by Yukari Iwatani Kane: "From the moment he became CEO of Apple, Tim Cook found himself in the shadow of his boss... The succession was complicated by the fact that no one knew who Cook really was. The new CEO was a mystery. Some colleagues called him a blank slate. As far as anyone could tell, Cook had no close friends, never socialized and rarely talked about his personal life... To some, Cook was a machine; to others, he was riveting. He could strike terror in the hearts of his subordinates, but he could also motivate them to toil from dawn to midnight for just a word of praise." An excerpt from Kane's forthcoming book, "Haunted Empire: Apple after Steve Jobs." Wall Street Journal

> Tim Cook erupts after shareholder asks him to focus only on profit: 'If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.' Business Insider

>> POWER PLAY: Why Apple could win big with Tesla's giant new battery factory, by Marcus Wohlsen: "It's not just the prospect of a gasoline-free future that has sparked such excitement about the Gigafactory. The same basic lithium-ion tech that fuels Tesla's cars also runs most of today's other mobile gadgets, large and small. If Tesla really produces batteries at the scale it's promising, cars could become just one part of what the company does. One day, Tesla could be a company that powers just about everything, from the phone in your pocket to the electrical grid itself. Earlier this month, as rumors swirled that Apple might want to buy Tesla, San Francisco Chronicle reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk had indeed met with the iPhone maker. Musk later confirmed that Tesla and Apple had talked, but he wouldn't say what about." Wired

> The Apple Tesla connection: Fun and reason with numbers: 'Apple acquiring Tesla would make for juicy headlines but would also be very dangerous. There are more sensible ways for the two companies to make money together.' Monday Note

> The mass market Tesla E will have a 200 mile range, be roughly 20% smaller than Tesla S TechCrunch

>> TALES FROM THE GULCH: The housing market with nowhere to go (but up), by Nick Bilton: "Not long ago the pink house at 1829 Church Street, in the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco, hit the market for $895,000. It sold for $1.425 million -- $530,000 over the asking price -- in less than two weeks... 'It's a block away from all the tech shuttles'... In December, almost 40 percent of the home sales were all cash... on average, homes in San Francisco are selling for 60 percent to 80 percent over asking price. Most are gobbled up within 16 days of being listed." New York Times/Bits

>> BEHIND THE CURTAIN: Inside the billion-dollar hacker club, by Steve O'Hear: "Formed sometime around 1996 and still active until the early 2000s, not a huge amount is known publicly about 'w00w00' or its precise activities... Jan Koum (known to the group simply as 'yan') [now better known as CEO of] WhatsApp... Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning ('napster') is known to have been a member of w00w00... Many other former members of this elite hacking crew have become leaders in the Internet security and related industries, founding or working in senior roles at companies such as Cloudmark, Duo Security, Hotmail, Google, Yammer, Veracode, CloudVolumes, Symantec, SecurityFocus, Immunet, and Sourcefire." TechCrunch

>> NOT DEAD YET: MtGox sets up call center in Japan for queries from worried Bitcoiners, by Sean Gallagher: "Bitcoin investors left hanging by the sudden shuttering of the MtGox electronic market will soon have a way to learn more about the fate of their cryptocurrency holdings -- a Japanese phone hotline. In an announcement on the company's website, MtGox said that a call center had been set up to handle inquiries about the company. The call center will go live on the morning of March 3, Japan time." Ars Technica